This Time Will Be Different

Behind the decision to switch the ninth grade literature curriculum THERESA NGUYEN perspectives editor/photo editor

For over 20 years, To Kill a Mockingbird has been a staple of Cupertino High School’s American literature curriculum. However, the novel’s time at Tino is about to end. The freshman English Department will no longer use To Kill a Mockingbird, introducing the contemporary novel This Time Will be Different in its place. This change will take effect next year for the class of 2026.

Written by Harper Lee in 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird chronicles life during the Great Depression through the eyes of nine-year-old Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. Her father, Atticus Finch, is a lawyer who takes o n the controversial case regarding a Black man falsely accused of raping a white woman. The novel explores the injustices and racism present in the courtroom and their daily lives.

Despite the book’s essential themes and messages, it is not perfect. In addition to the argument that To Kill a Mockingbird perpetuates white saviorism, some teachers also claim that it underrepresents marginalized communities by telling their story through a white person’s perspective.

Said freshman English teacher and ELD instructor Jenna Ray in an email interview, “First, we had some teachers express their growing discomfort with using the text. [...] We agree that we would like to have more texts that explore the experiences of peo ple from dif ferent back grounds, but if we want to hear about the experience of a person of color, shouldn’t it be from a text written by a person of color?”

Specific marginalized students at Tino were negatively impacted by the book as well. Said Ray, “Our Black students, in particular, felt like the book was a very poor representation of their experiences and lacked the nuance needed to discuss race in today’s world.”

According to curriculum support and English teacher Greg Merrick, the idea to change the curriculum has taken shape over the past five years.

Said Merrick, “We started by thinking about the book and looking through some of the feedback we received from members of our community. [...] I would say it was probably two to three years ago

REPLACING TO KILL A

MOCKINGBIRD WITH

“BUT IF WE WANTTO HEAR ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE OF A PERSON OF COLOR, SHOULDN’T IT BE FROM A TEXT WRITTEN BY A PERSON OF COLOR? JENNA RAY ”

that we started to have serious conversations about what we might replace it with.”

With their discussions came four criteria: having a female protagonist or author, having an author of color – ideally, one that represented the majority of the student population’s racial and ethnic identities, which is predominantly Asian-American or Pacific Islander, finding a book that students could write and develop argumentative responses on, and finding a more uplifting text than TKAM.

The English department spent last summer reading potential texts following their decision. Of the 10 to 12 books that the department considered, only one fulfilled all their criteria: This Time Will be Different. Written by author Misa Sugiura, This Time Will be Different covers the life of an Asian-American teen living in the Bay Area as she tackles historical racism and an uncertain future. It also features LGBTQ+ characters and nontraditional family dynamics, starkly contrasting its predecessor i n freshman lit classes. Said Ray, “I started reading the book in early October, and I will admit that I loved it. The protagonist felt very relatable. She is a flawed character and makes a lot of terrible decisions, but she’s still empathetic, and so the whole time I was reading, I felt like I wanted to yell at her, ‘No! What are you doing?!’ because I genuinely wanted her to win in the end.”

Sugiura, a former English teacher at Wilcox High School, visited Tino earlier this year for an author meet and greet. Said English Department lead and freshman English teacher Kevin Morgan, “We had the author visit with Misa here too, a n d hearing her talk about her process for coming up with conflicts and types of characters that she wanted was compelling. I was happy that it ended up being a text that the

team settled on as a possible option.” THIS TIME For incoming students, the new book will be part of their first impressions of high school literature, making it difficult to gauge their expecWILL BE tations. Said Merrick, “We think at this point, tentatively, that this is the book we’re going to select. But one thing we’re doing this spring is inviting a DIFFERENT lot of our freshmen students to read that book as an enrichment reading book because we want to get a better sense from our actual freshmen students.” As for curriculum change’s impact, only time will tell. The English Department hopes to modernize and shape the curriculum to better reflect the student body, using this change as a stepping stone to achieving their goal. Said Morgan, “‘Readers often seek their mirrors in books’ (Rudine Sims Bishop). [...] I’m hopeful that this book can serve as mirrors for

“THE PROTAGONIST FELT VERY RELATABLE. SHE IS A FLAWED CHARour ninth-grade readers here.” ACTER AND MAKES A LOT OF TERRIBLE DECISIONS, BUT SHE’S STILL EMPATHETIC JENNA RAY ”